The Archive forms the near complete records of the Huddersfield Female Educational Institute 1846-1883, one of the first such institutes. It is a full record of its history including curricula, students, book lists, full financial records, and annual reports. The minutes and annual reports are important sources for the administration of the Institute and the admission records give details of the actual students, their ages, addresses and occupations. Receipted bills give full accounts of the costs of living and the equipment needed for running the Institute and its Library. Huddersfield’s Female Educational Institute was one of the first in the country and its archive is an important asset to the history of the town.

The Huddersfield Female Educational Institute was especially important since it was one of two institutes for working women…that attracted relatively large numbers in the 1850s and 60s. I can remember being impressed with their content since it is rare to find such detail about working women in the past.
Professor June Purvis, author of ‘Hard Lessons; the lives and education of working women in nineteenth century England’ 1989

This archive forms one of many collections (128 in all!) that the Heritage @ Huddersfield project aims to make more widely available, and to safeguard for the future.